Through my study of Genesis, a continual theme kept emerging: the way a person lives his life directly affects the lives of his offspring. Adam and Eve choose sin -> all of humanity is cursed; Noah lives righteously before God -> humanity is saved. Ham dishonors Noah -> his entire line of descendents is cursed. Abraham believes God -> Isaac is given the same blessing from God. Isaac and Rebekah chose favorites -> their children struggle against one another most of their lives. Jacob lives selfishly -> most of his children live the same way. It is one story after another of real humans making choices that have direct consequences (good and bad) on their children. And it is no different for us today.
The sins of the parents generally become the struggles of the children. Addictions and flaws are transmitted in the same way as hair color and height. With one redemptive difference, there is a choice. The destructive cycle of generational sins is passed through each generation; therefore, each generation is given the ability to end the cycle. To grant even more hope, Genesis shows us that God honors the slightest acts of faithfulness and magnifies his blessings to future generations. For me, this brings home the sobering truth that we are not living our lives for ourselves alone. As much as we would like to believe that we are the only ones that suffer for our own sins, this is not true. And what is more, the ramifications on our offspring can be in place before they even exist. All of this is to say that we need to live our lives as if others’ lives depend on our choices. Because they do.
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